Professor Joshua Spencer had an unusual student in his “Philosophy 358: Action, Will, and Freedom” class this semester: His mother.
Spencer has frequently welcomed senior auditors in his classes over his years at UWM. Wisconsin residents who are 60 years or older can choose to audit courses at any Universities of Wisconsin institution for free. They don’t need to complete assignments or take tests, but many auditors enjoy participating in classroom discussions and reading the materials.
So, when Spencer’s mother, Nancy De Malignon, retired last year from her job as a Montessori paraeducator, Spencer suggested she explore the auditor program. But De Malignon wasn’t going to settle for just any teacher.
“When he told me about it, he was on sabbatical. I was like, I’m not going to take a class until you’re back,” De Malignon said. “I wanted to take a class with Joshua. He’s been in my classes before, so I figured tit for tat.”
Teaching your parent might seem intimidating for some, but Spencer and his mother have a close bond. De Malignon raised Spencer and two of his siblings as a single parent and often took Spencer to class with her when she was working on some of her college courses.
Taking her son’s class was a bit different than what she was used to, De Malignon said.
“I have never taken a philosophy class before. I realized it’s a lot harder than I thought,” she noted.
Luckily, De Malignon had time for some personal tutoring; she and Spencer would walk to and from campus together and continue the discussions from the classroom.
The course focused on free will. Are our actions the result of our own decision-making? Or are they predetermined by the past and the laws of nature? Can both things be true? Those are the questions that Spencer encouraged his students to explore in class.
“I like the fact that he does make it so open so the students will participate – and they do participate really well in his class,” De Malignon said. “I appreciate that because I know there are sometimes when … I’ll have kids (in my class) and I’m like, okay, what did you think? And there’s silence.”
And how was De Malignon as a student?
“She was actually pretty quiet in class,” Spencer joked. “She was a good student. She had a lot of good questions that she’d ask me on the walk afterwards and was engaged with the reading and thinking about it. It was great to have her.”
De Malignon enjoyed her time on UWM’s campus, and she would encourage anyone interested in the auditor program to participate. Spencer, too, likes having auditors in his class.
“Many of them have already had a professional background, and often in an area that’s outside of philosophy. … They’ll often bring their knowledge of those other areas into the classroom, which is great,” he said. “I think that the auditors are also, especially at the beginning of the semester, a little bit more brave than the students to speak up, and they kind of set a tone that helps the students to feel more comfortable.”
While this is De Malignon’s first time auditing a class at UWM, it won’t be the last. She’s hoping to find a class about quilting in the spring semester, but she’s not done with philosophy. Next on her list is a class on metaphysics – taught by her son, of course.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science